14 May 1900. The Greer Weekly Sun
10 Jan 1901. The Mangum Star
Slaton & Smiley are having a forty foot addition built on their saloon.
10 July 1902, The Mangum Star
Saloon Robbed
Safe opened and relieved of its cash contents, checks and notes.
J.W. Mc-Graw in hoc
Manner professional and operator must have been familiar with things – safe opened without damage
When people arrived at their respective places of employment last Monday morning they were startled by a report of safe robbing that had just taken place. Slaton & Smiley’s saloon was the scene of the robbery and valuables in cash and paper to the extent of some two hundred dollars was obtained.
Officers were early notified of the act through Nash Racy and some others who had returned on the 11 o’clock train from Lawton. These parties in passing home went to the back door of the saloon to refresh their Lawton fever and on gaining admittance plainly noticed something wrong. They immediately notified Mr. Slaton who came up and made an investigation. Opening the safe he found that its contents, which consisted of some $150 in cash and some checks and notes had been removed.
Through John Crabtree it was learned that McGraw was out very late that night, and other things pointing very suspiciously toward him it was deemed that his arrest was advisable. Thorough search of himself and his premises failed to discover the money
It is said that McGraw has often made the statement that he could unlock any safe in town which had no time lock. This seems to be the strongest evidence of his guilt together with the fact that he was out late on the night the robbery was committed.
Whoever the guilty party is it will be the proper thing to run him down and lock him up, for a fellow that can go into a business house and unlock a safe at will is a dangerous character to have running at large.
28 July 1902. The Mangum Star
Slaton and Smiley are now in the ice business. They unloaded a railroad car of ice Saturday night and stored it in a vault in the rear of their saloon.
With the passage of statehood in 1907 came prohibition. From the Mangum Sun-Monitor, 21 November 1907
There were seven saloons in Mangum and all were running full blast at noon on Saturday November 16, 1907 but at supper time not a drop of liquor could be bought in the town at any price. It had been expected that the saloons would be allowed to run until the usual closing time– 12 o’clock Saturday night–and they were so allowed in most places but in the afternoon a movement was started in Granite to close the saloons of Greer County before night and the county authorities set the time at 5 p.m. The Mangum saloon men were notified at 4:30 p.m. and all closed promptly. Every place was crowded when the final minute came but the unwilling, good-natured revelers were pushed out of each place and the doors locked on time.
